Stop Hitting Snooze! Add Days to Your Life with the Ruggie

By Angela Sabrowsky

If you don’t have trouble falling asleep, you surely have trouble waking up in the morning. If a standard alarm clock just leaves you hitting snooze over and over again, the Ruggie alarm clock may work for you and give you back minutes, hours and days of your life. (According to the company, over 33 percent of the United States’ population hits snooze at least three times every day.)

How does it work better than a standard alarm clock? The Ruggie is a memory foam mat that requires you stand on it for at least 3 seconds before the alarm shuts off. Because it needs the pressure of a full body to turn off, the Ruggie is more effective than a standard alarm clock because it demands that you get out of bed before the alarm stops. Compare this to a generic alarm clock on your phone or nightstand that only requires a simple extension of your arm to stop making that annoying racket every morning. Is the act of getting out of bed and standing for seconds not motivation enough? You can program the Ruggie to suit your preferences and to require longer standing time if needed.

Once you’re up and standing on the Ruggie, it rewards you with programmable encouraging speeches to start your day off right and keep you awake. It can also play sounds or songs. Just connect the Ruggie to your computer using a USB and transfer any sound files you want! (The demonstration video plays Arnold Schwazenegger telling you to rise and shine—how motivational would that be?!)

The Ruggie also acts as a night light and clock should you need to get up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom. Simply step on the Ruggie (as you would getting up out of bed) and the LED screen activates to your touch. It automatically shuts off after 20 seconds so no one else sleeping in the room is disturbed by the light. The Ruggie can eliminate the need in your bedroom for a nightlight and clock.

The Ruggie also eliminates the needs for a warm rug on your flooring. The high density memory foam wrapped in felt feels warm and comforting to your feet every morning.

Since the Ruggie lives on your bedroom floor, the inventors knew it couldn’t slack on style. Its design is simple enough to fit into any style of home décor, from minimalistic and modern to vintage or classic. It measures 15.5 by 23.5 inches, which is the perfect size to provide enough room to stand on, but doesn’t take up precious space in your bedroom.

Don’t think you’re in the market for the Ruggie? You might want to think again. According to the product’s Kickstarter page, if the Ruggie can help you get up even 5 minutes earlier each day, assuming you will live to be 80 years old, you will have added 100 days to your life.

According to Indiegogo, 3,349 backers pledged $461,679 to help bring this project to life. You can pre-order the Ruggie at $79 USD, with shipment estimated for fall 2016.